July 2009

[If you’re wondering why this post has come up just a few hours after this one for a 20% off coupon at Simplified Clothing, I actually wrote this post about two weeks ago and forgot to publish it, so here it is!]

When I was in Philly, I actually kind of looked forward to doing my laundry down in the depths of my building, there was something about the domesticity of it that made me feel more like I was living in America rather than just on an extended holiday. But, and here’s the thing, whilst I enjoyed it in one way, there was no way that I was going to do more than 1 washing session a week, so I’d load up two machines set them off on cold, and if I owned anything that didn’t get clean on that cycle, well, it was just going to have to wait until next week when I’d give it another go (well, in extreme circumstances I might soak something in the sink, but that was as far as I was willing to go). Basically, I took as little care over my garments as is possible, a situation that probably came from the attitude of “meh, if I ruin it I’m sure someone will send me a new tee at some point.”* Internet, you’ve made me lazy! (but please don’t stop sending tees)

*As I was typing that sentence my brother walked in and handed me a new t-shirt, seriously. [well, at the time it happened, but as I said, this post is a couple of weeks old now, so it’s kind of not true now]

I feel like I may have asked this before but it bears repeating. Where can I buy T-World (sometimes just called T) magazine on the internet without it being a total ripoff?

I’m sure I’ve seen it for sale somewhere but the price was getting on for $40 for it to be delivered to my door, and whilst I’d like to get my hands on it, that seems a bit extreme. I’m going to try my favourite store in Manchester today since they had 1 copy of the 1st issue, but I’m not getting my hopes up. If anyone has any idea I’d really appreciate it because I really enjoyed the issues I’ve managed to buy. I believe that the picture above shows the latest issue, so keep a lookout!

I don’t know how many HYAers are located in the North West of England, but there’s probably one or two of you, and it’s entirely possible that you like rock music, and watching bands play live. If that’s the case, I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out my good friends Decorate in Flames at The Ritz in Manchester. I’ll be there, so if by some bizarre coincidence you’re there and you read this site, say “Hi” because it would make my dayyear and then all my friends would think I was actually famous on the internet, and I might buy you a beer.

I was under the impression that the Black Rock Collective store only sold items that had been contributed to by every member of the collective, but clearly I am wrong, as this tee is by ‘just’ two designers. Of course, you don’t need lots of people to make a great tee (one is usually enough), and in this case two is the magic number because this is one damn fine tee.

Did you notice that the last three posts have all been sale/coupon related and went 30% off, 20% off, and now 10% off. It wasn’t intentional, but it’s pretty cool… well, 50% off at all three would be cooler, but beggars can’t be choosers.

No coupon code necessary, just wait until tomorrow for everything in their store to be 10% off.

In their e-mail laFraise say that the reason for this sale is because Strawberry season is coming to an end (it’s been over for 2 weeks already in the HYA house), which obviously means that the white tees need to have 30% off them. Possibly because if you get strawberry juice on a white tee it’s going to stain it and you’ll need to get a new one?

I’m not sure if Rush Limbaugh is in the news at the moment or not (I’m a few days behind on my Daily Shows), but I was perusing Print Liberation and I saw this tee, and my first reaction was “wow, that guy is a total douche.” You might find this shocking, but after several moments of reflection, I still think he’s a douche.

I was going to write about this beautiful Narwhal t-shirt, then I saw a narwhal riding a Segway and realised that I couldn’t in good conscience pass up an opportunity to post a narwhal called GOB riding a segway since I doubt it will happen again in the near future. Contender for t-shirt of the year? Ummm, yah!

I’m literally writing this with my head cocked to the side because I’m a cynic and don’t believe that Attus Apparel are selling these to actually be worn, but jumpsuits for CEOs is a pretty funny concept, and for them to go to the effort of getting genuine Kentucky State prison issue jumpsuits does show that they’ve put some thought into it.

Tilteed are one of the latest players to be entering the t-shirt design competition arena. So, there’s like a thousand of these contests now right, do I smell a list coming on?

I actually have no problem with t-shirt design contests, I know a lot of people take issue with them because it’s a form of spec work (is that the right term?), but as long as the copyright remains with the designer if the design isn’t a winner then I think it’s fine, because the designer can still use their artwork either at other design contests or with a regular shop. Tilteed are launching with a tee by Dale Edwin Murray (shown above), which you can order now for $18, but the prize package for the launch is probably going to be a bit more exciting for most of you. $3500 for the grand prize, and $1500 for the runner up. Not bad, eh? After that they’re going to be releasing a new tee every 72 hours, with that winning receiving $500 and $1 per tee sold. I think that’s a pretty fair deal.

It’s hard to judge a design contest in it’s early days because creating a community to ensure high quality submissions is obviously key to their longevity. The $5000 prize fund for the first two tees is obviously a big draw for some artists, but are they going to stick around? I voted on a few of the submissions and the quality level is very high, there were a lot of designs there that I think a lot of you would be happy to wear, and I recognised quite a few of the names of the artists too, so Tilteed are off to a good start in that respect.

$18 for a tee is pretty good, but no one is going to turn down a coupon code now, are they? TilteedHYA will get you 20% off your order, making a single tee $14.40, which is downright reasonable in my book.

*Since I wrote this post Tilteed have announced their two grand prize winners, “get a job” by lowdtown, and “expansion” by a.mar.illo, well done guys! Images of both designs can be found after the jump.

Back in the day when Threadless were much smaller than they are now, Flowers in The Attic and The Communist Party were THE sought after designs. When they got reprinted, they sold out quick, there was always a bit of a race to pick them up, so a friend and I decided that whenever they were reprinted Threadless were printing money. Flowers in the Attic was the first ever Threadless tee I bought, it’s a bit faded now, and it’s too big (XXL vs my current XL frame), so I might just have to buy it again because in t-shirt terms it’s probably the equivalent of my first love, and maybe it’s time to rekindle the romance, especially as this is my preferred colourway for this design (they messed around with different versions but this is clearly the best). It would be nice if they offered it as a hoodie though, so people don’t have to buy crappy knockoffs at Amsterdam markets.